


Faith

by thechavanator



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, Hello tag system my old friend I STILL don’t KNOW HOW TO USE YOU, Tin pin, ninety percent fluff, ten percent endgame awkwardness, this was a pinch hit and I feel bad: the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 06:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17136971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechavanator/pseuds/thechavanator
Summary: Sora, Riku and Kairi pay a visit to their friends (well, Sora and Riku’s friends) in Shibuya. Tin Pin ensues. Discussions of Joshua also ensue.





	Faith

**Author's Note:**

  * For [streetlights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetlights/gifts).



> OH GOD I offered to pinch hit for this prompt and I’m Less Happy about the finished product than I really should be. Writing fic and doing last minute Christmas shopping and prepping for a Christmas party all in the same weekend (while being overly concerned about your ability to keep characters in character) is rough.
> 
> I suspect I might revisit this concept on a later date. These kids are fun and I had a grander concept for this that I just didn’t have enough time for.
> 
> Regardless: I hope you enjoy this anyway, friend!

Look, if Joshua wanted to give him the ability to watch the UG, Neku was sure as hell going to use it. Mostly to offer help to the poor saps trapped in the newest game or to laugh to himself at the confusion on their faces at this stranger who seems to see them but wholeheartedly ignores them.

That said, he does keep an eye out for anything weird, because Neku’s daily agenda does not, in fact, include dying (again), and as much as he may (try to) trust Joshua, he’s still wary that any other Underground nonsense may get him drafted into another game against his will. Capital-g Game or otherwise.

And sure enough, today’s oddity is a trio of players, trying (and failing) to fight off some Noise with pins he’s pretty sure he’s never seen before. But one of those swords looks familiar....and he gets an eyeful of spiky brown hair and oh shit that’s Sora. No clue who these other randos are, but that’s absolutely Sora.

Well, that would explain the unrecognizable “pins,” wouldn’t it? (Come to think of it, they’re not really wearing pins at all.)

Sora catches his eye and waves him over. “Neku! Can you help us out?”

Neku sends out a quick text to the Reaper’s Game Survivors (plus Eri) chat: **meet me at 104, found some friends.**

“How did you guys even...” he trails off. “Look, don’t bother with the Noise. Just come with me.”

—————————————————————————————————————————

Neku can’t entirely believe his “Use 104 to pull his...friends? out of the UG” plan worked, but considering he saw a brainwashing-via-pin plan almost work, he really shouldn’t be surprised anymore. Shiki, Eri, Beat and Rhyme - no Josh, even though his number sure did appear in the group chat without warning one day and Neku is sure he read it - have already arrived, introductions have been exchanged all around, and the Shiki-Eri stuff has been explained (but certainly not before Riku AND Sora told a terribly-confused Eri that it was SO nice to see her again while Beat and Rhyme dissolved into laughter). They broke into mini-conversations for all of two seconds before Riku and Beat’s “we were forced to fight our friends” brought Shiki into the conversation with a mini-tirade about aforementioned pin-based brainwashing. (The group may have attracted several stares.)

After that point any semblance of separate conversations had converged once more. It was honestly strange how much they could relate to even the more outlandish portions of the others’ adventures. Neku had assumed that Kairi and Eri in particular would bond over being the two people with the least amount of weird monster and weirder people experience, but it seemed that every Shibuyan-Island combo produced some relatable experience in some form or another (and even if not, Eri’s genuine likability made up for that).

Neku, for his part, did far less talking than the rest; he wasn’t really...used to having friends yet. He was far more than content to just observe.

Well, until Eri declared, “Alright, I’m teaching you all to play Tin Pin, right now.” He sure as hell wasn’t just going to watch.

He finished digging through his bag for his ungodly pin collection and came face-to-face with an uncharacteristically-contemplative Sora.

“I’ve been wondering...” Sora began, occasionally eyeing Eri as she set up the Tin Pin arena she’d pulled out of...somewhere. (Neku didn’t even want to ask.) “Aren’t you guys missing someone? Where’s Joshua?”

The non-Eri Shibuya residents halted, suddenly realizing that they had conveniently left out the “Joshua shot Neku twice, and is largely (if indirectly) responsible for all our Game-related issues” part of their adventures. (Eri, bless her heart, was entirely oblivious to the sudden awkward air surrounding the rest of the group.)

(Neku hadn’t been lying when he told Joshua - well, when he just sort of talked into the void and hoping Joshua gave enough of a shit to listen - that he hadn’t forgiven him yet, but the rest was true: he trusted Josh, and even with the bullets and the lies, he still did kind of miss him.)

A quick summary from Shiki clued Sora in. Much to Neku’s surprise, however, Sora’s typical smile returns. “He’ll come around.” He wrapped an arm around Riku’s shoulders, pulling the taller boy out of his (surprisingly intense) contemplation of Rhyme’s secret weapon. “I mean, Riku did! So I’m sure Josh will too.”

Riku rolled his eyes as he wordlessly hands Rhyme’s noise pin back; Neku didn’t miss the genuine spark of affection in his eyes.

“Maybe he just needs some time,” Kairi added, grinning as she knocked one of Beat’s pins out of the arena. “To wrap his head around his new perception of people, or something like that.” 

“You gotta have faith!” Sora shouted, drawing a few confused stares from anyone who wasn’t already confused by the Tin Pin arena blocking most of the alley. His friends (and Rhyme, as she consoled her brother on the loss of his fallen ally) nodded in agreement.

—————————————————————————————————————

Neku awaited his first match in their new impromptu tournament, getting a bit too invested in the intense battle between Eri and Kairi. The latter had picked the game up pretty quickly compared to her friends (and Neku, admittedly) and matched up pretty strongly with the expert in Neku’s friend group.

He was jolted from spectator status by a familiar jingle from his phone.

Neku flipped it open, examining the message he received...or, rather, that he didn’t receive: the “message” was a blank text with no sender.

That was odd.

He felt something kick the back of his leg and whirls around to find the offender, but to no avail. The only possible assailant anywhere near him was the bustle of Shibuya foot traffic a few meters away, or perhaps whoever left this pristine white feather on the ground—

Oh.

Neku bent over to pick up the feather, hearing a familiar laugh ring through his ears with no source and, presumably, no others hearing it.

Huh. Maybe Sora was on to something.


End file.
